Spirit Music Group has appointed Gary Miller to Senior Vice President, Creative Services.
Miller will be based in the publishing company’s Los Angeles office and will report jointly to David Renzer, Chairman & CEO, Spirit Music Group, and Jon Singer, COO/CFO, Spirit Music Group.
He will be responsible for leading the company’s synch efforts across film, television, advertising and more.
Prior to joining Spirit, Miller worked at Universal Music Publishing Group for 18 years, first as Vice President, Film & TV Music, Clearance and Licensing before being named Vice President, Film & TV Music, Creative in 2007.
During this tenure, he worked under David Renzer – who was CEO/Chairman of UMPG before stepping down in 2011 following 15 years with the company.
“Now more than ever, the income generated by synch placements are a crucial revenue stream for songwriters, so building the best synch team possible to provide the most opportunities for Spirit’s songwriters is very important for us. To that end, Gary is the ideal choice to lead our synch team, and his work will add considerable value for our songwriters,” said Renzer.
Jon Singer commented: “Over the past few years, Spirit has been pursuing an aggressive global growth plan that’s generated a lot of results for the company and for our songwriters. That success starts with people – a business can’t reach its goals without having the right team in place, and Gary is a talented, experienced executive who will be a key contributor in helping Spirit and its songwriters reach new heights.”
“Gary is the ideal choice to lead our synch team, and his work will add considerable value for our songwriters.”
David Renzer, Spirit Music Group
Gary Miller said: “I am excited to join such a great sync team, which, many on the team I have known for years, and look forward to working with and on behalf of an amazing catalog of music and roster of writers. David, Jon, and the rest of Spirit’s executive team have a great vision for the future of the company and I am honored to have the opportunity to be a part of Spirit Music Group’s continued growth and success.
At UMPG, Miller was responsible for overseeing the music clearance and licensing operations for the company during a period of exponential growth through signings and acquisitions, and he was also instrumental in the design and development of the major’s licensing system.
His career working with the majors began in 1993 for what was then MCA Music Publishing as the Manager Of Film & TV Music Clearance.
He then did a two year stint at PolyGram Film and TV as Director of Music Clearance and Creative, then returned to Universal in 1999 as Senior Director overseeing the clearance and licensing operation for the newly merged MCA and PolyGram Music Publishing catalogs.
Miller was promoted to VP in 2000 and spent the next seven years in that role, and was involved in its acquisitions of Rondor Music and BMG Music Publishing.
In 2008 Miller began working Universal’s roster and catalog in the areas of TV, Film, Video Games, Advertising and Merchandise.
To date, Miller has placed music with major movie studios including Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers and Lionsgate, as well as in video games with EA, Sony Computer Entertainment and Activision-Blizzard.
Beyond his work in the Film/TV music world, he is also responsible for signing Grammy Award-winning songwriters Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino of A Great Big World to UMPG and was instrumental in UMPG’s signing of The Record Company.
Spirit Music Group is headquartered in New York with offices in London, Los Angeles, Nashville and the Netherlands.
Spirit is a portfolio company of Pegasus Capital Advisors, the New York-based private equity fund manager.Music Business Worldwide
